Stoinis dropped from T20I squad; McDermott, Stanlake recalled

Marcus Stoinis has been dropped from Australia’s T20I squad following his disappointing 50-over World Cup with Ben McDermott and Billy Stanlake among those recalled to face Sri Lanka and Pakistan as plans are formed ahead of next year’s men’s T20 World Cup.

Just seven of the squad that faced India in two T20Is in February – and won the series 2-0 – are retained with D’Arcy Short, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Peter Handscomb part of the group missing the cut. Jason Behrendorff was not available for selection having been ruled out for the season with his back injury that will require surgery.

Stoinis made just 87 runs in seven innings at the World Cup and struggled with a side injury which hampered his bowling, but his omission comes after a stellar Big Bash last season where he made 533 runs at 53.30 at a strike-rate of 130.63 and claimed 14 wickets.

He played six T20Is last season – one against South Africa and five against India – and finished opening the innings, but the return of David Warner and Steven Smith has led to a crunch for spots in the top order.

He started the domestic season with a bang for Western Australia in the Marsh Cup with an unbeaten 101 off 58 balls in the opening match against Victoria but has followed that with scores of 16, 19 and 1.

Stoinis’ Western Australia team-mate, Ashton Turner, retains his place after there was doubt whether he would be fit following a broken finger in the Marsh Cup.

The spin bowling will be in the hands of Adam Zampa and the recalled Ashton Agar, the latter preferred ahead of Nathan Lyon.